Els Credits Momentum for Heineken Win

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, February 2, 2003

Ernie Els was just getting started in July when he won the British Open for his third major championship. He really took off three months later.

"It started at the World Match Play in October," Els said. "I shot 60. That was quite nice. Then I kept it going."

And going. And going.

The Big Easy rallied to defend his Heineken Classic title Sunday at Royal Melbourne, giving him three wins this year, four in his last five events, and 10 worldwide titles in 13 1/2 months.

"This one is good … sweet," Els said. "I haven't come from behind for quite some time. I made some good saves coming home. I was a little tired, but I seemed to have got some energy the last few days."

He finished last year with a $2 million win in the Nedbank Challenge in his native South Africa, opened this season with consecutive PGA Tour victories in Hawaii and was second last week in the Singapore Masters.

On Sunday, he closed with a 7-under 65 for a one-stroke victory over Nick Faldo and Peter Lonard, winning when Lonard missed a 9-foot par putt on the difficult closing hole.

Els will take next week off and then play the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth in two weeks as he prepares for the first major of the year, the Masters in April, and a showdown with Tiger Woods.

"It will come to a head sooner or later, and you guys are probably going to write it up quite a bit now," Els said of Woods, expected to return in two weeks from a knee injury. "Hopefully with this form, I'll have a good chance playing against any field."

After opening rounds of 70 and 72 left Els 10 strokes behind the leaders at 2 under, he played the final 36 holes in 13 under. He shot a 6-under 66 on Saturday to pull within three strokes of Faldo, the third-round leader at 11 under.

"I didn't think I had much of a chance, particularly the way I played Thursday and Friday," Els said. "But somehow I got through. This game is quite amazing sometimes."

The 45-year-old Faldo, winless since the PGA Tour's 1997 Nissan Open, finished with a par for a 69, while Lonard settled for a 68 after his closing bogey.

Lonard, playing in the last group with Faldo, pushed his final drive into a corporate hospitality area lined with tents and hit his approach shot from the right rough into a bunker in a failed bid to attack the difficult pin position.

"I suppose I lost trying to win," said Lonard, a two-time winner late last year on the Australasian tour after finishing 41st on the PGA Tour money list in his rookie season. "I went at the flag (on 18). I could have hit to the middle of the green and two-putted. I had a go at it."

Faldo needed a birdie on No. 18 to force a playoff, but his approach went through the green and against an advertising stand. After a drop, his 60-foot chip was wide of the hole.

"It was disappointing not to be there at the end," the six-time major champion said. "But it was good to be contending again. That did me the world of good."

There were some anxious moments for Els on the closing holes. On No. 16, he hit his drive into the rough and his approach ended up on the edge of a bunker. Els putted past the hole and off the green on the other side, but saved par with a 15-foot putt.

He made another par-saving putt of 4 feet on the 17th. On 18, his tee shot hit a spectator and landed near the ropes, otherwise it would have gone into heavy rough. His approach went into a bunker, but he hit out to 4 feet to finish with a par.